1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to systems, and more particularly to communication systems for electronic devices.
2. Background Art
The design of electronic devices, including mobile communication devices, portable computing systems, tablet devices, and the like, is continually evolving. Using a mobile telephone as an example, only a few years ago such a device was only capable of making voice calls with a dedicated cellular network. Today, however, “smart phones” are capable not only of making voice calls with cellular networks, but also data communications with Wi-Fi and other data networks as well.
When such devices communicate data, it can be advantageous for system administrators to pull specific data from the devices to understand how they are used and configured. For example, a system administrator may be able to pull configuration data to determine when to deliver software updates, product upgrades, and so forth.
Users of these devices may be concerned about how the data in these devices is used by various system administrators. Accordingly, device manufacturers have begun to introduce certain setting controls, feature controls, and preference controls that restrict how the device functions, transmits data, communicates with remote servers and devices, and so forth. For example, some devices include privacy settings that allow the device user to designate whether certain information can be collected, uploaded, or otherwise accessed by remote systems and devices. A device operating in a privacy mode may transmit little or no data to remote devices, while a device operating in a non-privacy mode may freely transmit all kinds of information about its configuration and user to remote devices. It becomes the user's decision whether to allow such data to be transmitted to remote devices.
Problems can arise, however, when a device is operating in a privacy mode. To illustrate by example, since configuration data may not be transmitted to remote parties, it can be difficult to properly deliver necessary software patches, product upgrades, and the like to a mobile device due to the fact that the purveyor of these items is not able to know whether the items are needed. It would be advantageous to have a system capable of overcoming such issues.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.